2005 Dodge SRT-4 ACR

[Z_Fan]

Just bought this in late March of 2012.

Orange Blast w/Pearl Coat
1 of 210 Orange ACR's ever produced
Has just 13,477km on the odometer

Should be interesting...pics to follow, eventually.

Edit: I've been meaning to compile a list of the vehicles modifications. I'm not sure it is totally complete here, but this is a pretty good list of what is in the vehicle:

Modifications:

Engine:
DCR Stroker 2.6L
Darrell Cox Racing - 2.6L DCR Stroker Short Block High Output (Powered by CubeCart)
DCR Pro Series Head
Darrell Cox Racing - Pro Series Cylinder Head (Powered by CubeCart)
Gates Racing Timing Belt

Electronics / Engine Management:
AEM EMS Non-UEGO w/OEM PCM
AEM UEGO Wideband A/F Gauge
AEM Tru Boost Electronic Controller w/Gauge
AEM Pressure Gauge (Oil)
Aeroforce Scan Gauge in OEM boost gauge location

Turbo Package / Exhaust:
AGP Zeta 3.2 BB Turbocharger 82 A/R
AGP Exhaust Manifold
AGP 3” O2 Housing
AGP Dump Tube
AGP 38mm External Wastegate
MPx 3” Downpipe & Full Catless Dual Exit Exhaust

Transmission:
PWerks Stage 3 Tranny
RageTek Hydraulic Release Bearing
Clutch/Flywheel (Unknown, as I did not take it apart lol)
[I know I will be soon enough!]

Fuel:
Full Blown Dual Fuel Pumps
AGP after rail FPR & return line
AN-8 Feed, AN-8 Return
Boomba Fuel Rail
In rail fuel pressure gauge
RC Engineering 750cc Injectors
[1200cc/1400cc Injectors to go in at Dyno]

Air / Intake / Intercooling:
JMB Ultimate 3” CAI
Extrude Hone Intake Manifold
Boomba 70mm Throttle Body
Custom Tubes Intercooler, Anodized Black
Cold Side Hard Pipe
Turbonetics Blow Off Valve

Suspension / Axles:
Mopar Performance Stage 3 Coilover Suspension Kit
DSS Level 3 Axles

[Z_Fan]

2005 Dodge SRT-4 ACR
Orange Blast w/Pearl Coat
Purchased: March 22, 2012
Mileage: 13,477km

So I bought this car - it doesn't run. It is in immaculate condition inside and out for a Neon, so I intend to fix that.

Had some help pushing the car home, up the driveway and in to my garage. The car has been sitting since then, and I plan to work at this piece of neon scat at a pace that suits my elderly style.

Here it is after being pushed in to my garage.

[Z_Fan]

April 8th, 2012

So I decided I'd take a few minutes to look at this piece of crap whilst I bbq'd dinner tonight. Heart stopper potatos on the BBQ, Mmmmmm good.

It looked like this under the hood:



So first task is going to be to pull the engine back out. I'm not going to be using the AGP GT3076R turbo kit that is currently on it. The engine that is in the vehicle is an unturned DCR 2.6L stroker, with a DCR pro series head and the Werks Stage 3 transmission seen in the photo has been used.



Just unhooking a bunch of the wiring, and attempting to get it out to the side so I can pull the motor/transmission out. Also removed the radiator fans as well as the radiator itself to give me some extra room when pulling the motor. Didn't do much, had to go eat some killer BBQ.

[Z_Fan]

Werks Stage 3 Transmission

One of these suckers costs $3000.00 USD, plus $400 freight round trip. So $3400 USD if you provide a transmission and $4050 USD if you have no core. Yikes!

Let's hope this shit works.

[Z_Fan]

I was supposed to build my Z this year. Frankly, I'm still missing some parts anyhow, and haven't ordered them. So I guess I'll continue collecting shit for the Z until such a time that I can put it together.

So I guess I'm going to be dealing with this ACR this spring/summer instead. I've pulled lots of engines in the past and every time I have to pull one, I've got to borrow an engine crane. I saw them on sale at Princess Auto for like $149.99 off the regular price. It was a couple weeks ago, and so I bought one. Decided to set the thing up today. So here it is, in all its glory.

[Z_Fan]

So if you had a keen eye, or if you could even tell from the pictures, the motor was not sitting properly in the vehicle. I noticed this before I even bought it, and just figured that the passenger side mount mount bolt was not fastened.



I was finally able to clear some space in the garage and put the car up in the air today. Removed the front wheels, and sure enough, no passenger side motor mount bolt to be found. So I just jacked the engine up, went digging through my mesmorizing magical mystery bolt supply and found an engine mounting bolt. Put that in and then snapped this photo. Circled is the bolt that was missing.



So, this is now what it looks like. Not really sure you can tell the difference from the photos, but the engine is probably sitting about 1" or more higher. All the stress of that was being placed upon the torque struts. Yikes! Anyhow, haven't done shit really. Just put it in the middle of my garage, up in the air, and ready to get a little dirty unhooking shit from underneath. Won't take me very long before I have the engine out. Just need to find the time, and unfortunately, I gotta work. How depressing is that!

I did take the time to remove the A/C condensor, and get it placed below the block. Just got a few little things to deal with before I hook up the crane and pull this motor from my orange oversized paperweight, my giant oozing heap of Neown.

[Z_Fan]

I had to remove the alternator to get at the tail end of the wiring harness as it was routed behind in such a way that I could not get the rest of the harness out without removing the alternator. No big deal, I was going to take it off anyhow as I like to use the bracket bolt holes for lifting the engine out.

Pulled the motor out today.

Came out pretty easy though I had it tilted just a touch more than I would have liked. Took about 10 minutes total from when I started to lift it, so I'll call that a success. Put a couple scratches in the engine bay though. And what's fucking awesome about that is no one gives a fuck. It's just a Neon.

With the engine out I can now remove the turbocharger and exhaust manifold [which is already sold]. Then I'll be waiting for the turbo charger that I ordered back in late March, shortly after I bought the car. Co-incidentally, about 30 minutes after I had the engine sitting on the floor of my garage, I got a shipment notification saying the turbo charger kit is ready to ship. Presumably that means it will actually leave on Monday of the coming week.



Now if you look at the above picture, take note of the passenger side engine mount bracket. I've not touched it. That's how it looks. Yeah. It's got 4 bolt holes. One with a bolt all the way in, 2 empty bolt holes, and as you can see, one bolt is protruding by about an inch. Awesomesauce! Glad I decided to take this engine out...I might take the transmission off just to inspect the fastening of the clutch/flywheel assembly.

Might as well, I'm there. Who knows, maybe I'll need a better clutch than whatever is in this whore of a Neon.

[Z_Fan]

UPS tracking info for the new turbo kit...says...

Scheduled Delivery:
Monday, 04/23/2012, By End of Day

[Z_Fan]

[Z_Fan]

I spent about 60 minutes cleaning the engine bay area. Basically about 55 minutes more than any Neon deserves. I think it's a bit cleaner than it was, and it is definitely as clean as it is ever going to get - at least whilst I own it. From here on in, it's just going to get dirtier and I don't plan on doing a damn thing about it. Looks like I missed a spot back in the passenger corner of the engine bay area. Oh well.

[The "dirty" pic is a couple posts up. It's not that dirty to begin with.]



Just wasting time while I wait for the turbo kit to arrive. Project is at a stand still until that comes, and even then, it'll be a wait as I need to order some stuff from Realtune still - and will need to wait for that to arrive before really being able to put this glorified Neon back together again.

[Z_Fan]

Just some more fluff pictures while I wait for parts to arrive.


The AEM Tru Boost and AEM A/F Ratio gauges.

The car also has an Aeroforce Scangauge located in the stock boost gauge position.

Here's a picture of the sub-woofer/trunk.


No, I haven't cleaned it up yet. LOL! It's in crazy good condition really.

[Z_Fan]

So the AGP Zeta 3.2 turbo kit has arrived.

[Z_Fan]

Some pictures and info on the turbo kit that is going on this hunk of neon turd.

From www.agpturbo.com:

Zeta 3.2: Our second offering featuring fully machined billet aluminum compressor wheel with flow capabilities past 77lbs/min. We build this turbo with the .63 A/R or .82 A/R turbine housing and the turbo will support past 750whp. This turbo has the normal ported shroud 4" inlet just like all the smaller Deltas, however the outlet is 2.5" so you will also need to modify your factory hot side charge pipe to adapt to the 2.5" outlet. With our ultra light weight billet compressor wheel, expect full boost around 3800rpm in the .63 and 4100rpm in the .82. We will recommend a fully built engine with 1100cc injectors and twin fuel pumps to feed the full potential of the 3.2.


Shown above, the exhaust manifold.


Shown above, the Zeta 3.2 turbo charger.

[Z_Fan]

Here's the manifold getting put on, just kind of mock set-up for now. I've not done up all the bolts/nuts on everything.


Hmmm, the turbo looks big, it better fucking fit with out any firewall convincing.


Here's the whole engine, with the turbo, mani, wastegate, o2 housing and heat shield on...

So that's a basic idea of how it's gonna look.

[Z_Fan]

Not much of an update to make. I have done nothing with the car. Though I did take some time off here for May to work on the car. So far I haven't looked at it and it is May 5th already.

That said, yesterday I received my Full Blown dual fuel pump kit.

So, you know, that's something. I ordered some Vibrant 3" flanges and will attempt to weld them to the exhaust. The exhaust on this car was one piece, welded the entire way right from the downpipe to the tailpipes! So, the owner had to cut it apart to remove things. Anyhow, I'm going to put a pair of flanges where they cut it and hope I can make it work that way. A little easier to remove/replace. If I find it is too stupid, I may just order a new exhaust system for this vehicle.

[Z_Fan]

I also finally opened up the Full Blown Dual Fuel Pump kit that I bought from Aaron at Realtune.

[Z_Fan]

Here is what the calipers look like on the ACR. This is a rear caliper, as I took the tire off just to give me some room to remove the fuel tank for the Fullblown install.





OEM rotors. I totally forgot what they look like since when mine were worn out of my '04 I will have just replaced them with el-cheap OEM equivalent rotors. Amazing the car is in such great condition. I guess that's what happens when it sits most of its life in a nice garage, and doesn't get used.

[Z_Fan]

Well I finally got around to taking the fuel tank out from the car. I decided I was just going to remove it completely for the purpose of installing the Fullblown dual fuel pump hanger. I’m glad I removed it actually, as opposed to just leaving it hanging by a strap, because it really let me put some force on the canister when putting it back in. Decidedly that was a real bitch, as the little rubber seal doesn’t like to just play nice – and I found it was bending in places I didn’t want it to bend. But having the tank out and emptied let me put the assembled Fullblown unit in much easier.

The Fullblown unit doesn’t come with any instructions. I decided to dremel the black fitting out of the OEM canister because it was a pain in the arse trying to pry it out. I decided I was going to do more damage to the fitting if I continued to pry. Anyhow, had it out in just a couple minutes with the dremel. Could care less about my OEM canister, so this works for me.



So here I’ve used a Permatex thread sealer on the fittings that go in to the unit, as well as the barb fittings. Don’t know how well it stands up to gasoline, but I’ve used it before for sealing leaky transmission bolts in a TH400. Works well for that. Presumably this will seal the threads just fine.



Here are the dual Fullblown 290-2 fuel pumps. Supposedly these flow 15% more than a stock unit, and since we've got 2 of them, I'm sure this will feed the injectors nicely.

Installed them carefully, did my soldering of the additional plug, and added the submersible fuel lines from the feed barbs to the fuel pumps.



So next I decided that I was not going to use the return line in the Fullblown unit, as I already have the AGP return line that returns to fuel to the fill tube. However, I did go ahead and fasten some fuel line to the return line barb, and clamped it. I will attach the fitting on the exterior as well, and then I plan to cap it off. If at some point, I want to use that entrance as the fuel return, it will be easy to do so.



So there it is with the return line tube installed, as well as the splash shield. So after this I just installed the float, and then put the fully assembled unit back in to the fuel tank.



Voila! That was pretty easy. I put the gasoline tank back in position, and strapped it back on. Things that I still need to deal with for this part of the project.

- I need to get a cap for the fuel return connector.
- I need to get or build a fuel pump re-wire kit, install it and use it to control the 2nd pump.
- I need to have a fuel feed hose fabricated to go from the Fullblown unit up to the rail. I will probably install the engine first, measure carefully, and then go get a hose constructed.

[Z_Fan]

Update for May 24th, 2012.
I decided to replace the transmission axle seals. It’s pretty easy to do anyhow, but I can’t think of it getting any easier than whilst the tranny is sitting on the floor. So what the heck, I replaced both axle seals.
This morning I uncovered the car, and decided I’d throw the engine in the car today. So here it is about to get hooked up the engine crane.



So I got it hooked up and at the angle that I wanted. Here it is in mid-air, before I get it ready to slip it in to the engine bay.



I have to open my garage door, push the car back, and then navigate the engine around until it’s aligned closely. Then I push the car back in under the engine and close the garage door again. It was going pretty good, until I realized the fawking thing isn’t going to fit. I was trying to use every inch of engine bay and so I had already removed the AC/auto tensioner bracket so I had room over there, but I needed to remove the AEM EMS and the bracket to give me room. I was trying to lower it in way up front, and then kind of push it back in and then up to position. It worked pretty well, and I was able to get the Zeta 3.2 past the crucial parts only after I moved the oil feed line to the other side. It won’t fit at all with those fittings coming up around the back. In any case, here is the engine getting lowered in to place.



Here’s the oil feed line that I switch-a-roo’d the direction on. This makes more sense anyhow. And it’s not optional as it simply will not fit the other direction.



So, to be certain and clear, AGP says the Zeta 3.2 will fit in the car with no fire wall convincing. Well, I will agree that it does fit. No smashing required. However, when the engines main motor mounts are fastened, the Zeta 3.2 touches. As in, I can not slide a piece of paper between it and the firewall. So, yes, it fits. But it touches. Because everything seems so ridiculously close, I placed a large chunk of self-adhesive reflective heat barrier on the firewall over top of the things that run directly behind the turbo. I hope this prevents bad things from happening. And I’m open to suggestions or comments about whether or not the turbo touching the chasis is of concern, or not, and what to do about it besides bash away until there is a gap.

Next I installed the AC/auto tensioner bracket to the block. And slipped the AC condenser in to position and fastened its 4 bolts.



Then I put the PS bracket and PS reservoir on as well.



Then I decided I might as well do some other little things. I dropped in the radiator, dropped in the fans, and fastened them all back in their proper locations.



Then I bolted the AEM EMS bracket and the unit itself back in to their homes.



And I also fastened the AGP, after the rail, regulator / return line to the chassis. I also noticed that the bolts that were being used to hold the bracket on under the starter are actually the bolts that hold the transmission collar on. I noticed this a long time ago, and just figured the original owner had swapped the bolts by accident as they dropped the engine in to the car. Well, I went to remove the bolts from the collar and there were no bolts holding it on from the bottom and it was not aligned. I tapped it in to place with a hammer, and using the correct bolts I fastened the PS lines to the collar.

So pretty much this is where it is at right now:



If I haven’t already mentioned it, the exhaust on this hunk of neon poop was welded all together. They cut the down pipe off to remove the engine. (A needswing one) And anyhow, I can tell that’s been done before too as there is another ugly join welded in to it. The whole damn thing is welded and I’ve decided this is super M I C K E Y M O U S E so I ordered a completely new exhaust from Modern Performance this morning. I will cut this exhaust off and be rid of that hassle.

So my things to do are looking like this…

- I need to get a cap for the fuel return connector. (Done, need to install)
- I need to get or build a fuel pump re-wire kit, install it and use it to control the 2nd pump. (Ordered, but will build one if it doesn't show up in a timely fashion)
- I need to have a fuel feed hose fabricated to go from the Fullblown unit up to the rail. I will probably install the engine first, measure carefully, and then go get a hose constructed.
- I need to get a new exhaust. (Ordered)
- I need to get a fuel pressure gauge that screws in to the regulator for the return line. (Not sure why you'd have this with no frickin' gauge!)
- I need to find my charge pipe and see what needs to be done to make it work with the Zeta 3.2

That’s up to date!!

Seems like I got a fair bit done today.

[Z_Fan]

So I put a bit of time in to the car last night (30 minutes) and then a couple hours today. Sad that I have literally not touched the car since my last post a month ago!

Yeah, so I started by installing the AGP dump tube, the AGP heat shield, and the AGP o2 housing.

I've received my MPx exhaust, and though I didn't take any pictures of it, it's damn shiny and the fitment is seemingly better than the MPx exhaust I bought in 2005 for my other SRT-4. Makes me wonder if they changed it. Well, anyhow, it fits nicely on the vehicle. I have not fully tightened it up, but it's in position and ready to be fastened properly.



None of the bolts on the AGP stuff, except for the waste gate and dump tube, were tightened fully. I was just making sure all this shit fits together properly. It seems to fit fine. I took note that the AGP dump tube has been smartly bent to follow the down pipe angle. My buddy has one that is straight and it's too damn long, had to get it chopped off IIRC. So it was nice to see that's been taken care of and I don't need to do anything. I'm not using the re-route kit, though I did buy one just in case I decided to go that way...

Right, so, the lower torque strut was not yet fastened, so I jacked the motor up a touch, and fastened the bolt. This actually gave me a wee bit more clearance around the turbo compressor housing. So that was nice. Then I attached the large coolant line to the block. Since this wasn't my car, and it was all taken apart when I bought it, finding shit in the mystery bucket of bolts can be interesting. Today was 100% success rate for locating fasteners. So that was nice.

Then I put the wiring harness back in to the car, did up the connectors to the sensors up front. Everything went in to place nicely.

Yeah, so then I managed to find an intake manifold gasket, a fuel rail, fuel rail spacers, fuel rail nuts, the intake manifold and holy crap, 5 bolts in a zip lock - wow! So I cleaned up the fuel rail and the intake mani just a bit. It's a Neon after all, can't waste too much time throwing this heap together.

Here is the Boomba fuel rail that came with the car after I cleaned the crap off it, and the AEM gauge which I am going to be using for my oil pressure reading. I'm putting the sender in the head and will leave the OEM sender as it is to do its job there - but I'll get my reading from the head. Yes I read the thread on srtforums about this...and I decided the head will be fine for my purposes.



So, the Boomba throttle body was still attached to the intake mani, no surprise, so it is on the vehicle now too as it went in with the intake mani. Caption obvious is obvious.

Next I decided what the heck, I'll throw in the RC 750cc injectors and put on the boomba fuel rail. I'm assuming that the tune in the AEM EMS is for the RC 750cc injectors. And while I expect it won't be proper, it will likely be lean, but I can probably use it to at least get the car running to begin with. The plan is to use the 1100cc injectors I bought from AGP with the Zeta 3.2 turbo kit. (Open to suggestions here for fuel injectors!) They are cheap, but I'm thinking if the A/F ratio is ok for gentle driving, I will put on a couple hundred clicks and then swap the injectors at the dyno.

Anyhow, I hooked up the injector clips, etc and just attempted to get the wiring slightly organized.

Here's where I ended up. As you can see, the wiring on the right is rather messy, and I will have to route things properly. But the wiring under the intake manifold is clean and organized well. The TB cable is in there nicely, and I'll attach that later.



Yeah, and so the last thing I did was goof around with the charge pipe. LMAO. I've got the one that was in use with the GT3076R turbo that was on this vehicle previously. It doesn't work. I've got one I got from kberjian which has been cut short for some other big turbo set-up and it is too short. So I'm going to still have to cut the one I've got. The turbo compressor housing alignment ain't happening, so though it is a PITA, I loosened the 6 bolts and carefully clocked the compressor housing back as far as it can go. With out doing this, the shifter cables will be in the way. So now I'm going to have to get this damn charge pipe cut to the proper length.

That's where it's at now. Can't believe I let this thing sit for a full month. Oh well.

If you've taken the time to read this, I'm going to need to know how to get the wiring for the oil pressure gauge in to the vehicle through the firewall. Where is there a place to get these wires in to the cabin? I've never done this, so I don't know and as of yet, have not looked. But I suspect there must be a trick! So I'm open to suggestions / info from the savvy before I've got to go out and use my own brain to figure it out. <smile>